Five Sports is Better Than One
Day 14: Modern Pentathlon Has Everything from Horses to Laser Pistols
Everyone loves a multi-discipline sport, but none more so than the Olympics. The Winter Games feature the Biathlon, and the Summer Games has a Triathlon, a Pentathlon, a Heptathlon, and a Decathlon. That’s 29 total events but only 6 Gold Medals!
Most of these events are pretty straight forward. In the Winter it’s skiing plus something else (though that “something else” is sometimes odd). In Paris this summer we have a traditional Triathlon, and the Track and Field all-around events of Heptathlon and Decathlon. Then there’s the Modern Pentathlon, the red-headed stepchild of multi-sport Olympic events.
Modern Pentathlon made its debut at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics as a tribute to the ancient Greek Pentathlon. It was made up of the five key skills needed by a modern (by 1912 standards) soldier - fencing, shooting, running, swimming, and horse riding. That first competition may not have been the best gauge of military skill however, as a young US Army quartermaster named George S. Patton finished only fifth.
Today’s Modern Pentathlon is slightly more modern. Since 2009 Shooting and Running have been combined into the Laser Run, an event less exciting than it sounds, made up of running around a track and stopping to shoot a laser pistol between each lap. This year’s entire event will also take only 90 minutes, down from 5 days in 1912.
And after Paris, the sport will take another big step forward. Following an incident in 2021 when a German coach punched a horse, Modern Pentathlon will be replacing horse riding with a Ninja Warrier-style obstacle course at LA 2028. Hopefully the move will help save a truly bonkers sport that only 1% of people rank in their Top 5 Olympic events. Nowhere to go but up!
What To Watch Today
(All times Eastern. Full event replays available on-demand on Peacock)
It’s a big Thursday before the closing weekend. A huge night on the Track and in the Field. The first Soccer, Field Hockey, Canoe Sprint, and Marathon Swimming medals. The close of the Sailing regatta, and the beginning of the Rhythmic Gymnastics (the one with the ribbons and ball) and the aforementioned Modern Pentathlon.
🇺🇸 = Team USA competing 🥇= Gold Medal Event
1:30 am - Marathon Swimming: Women's 10km 🇺🇸 🥇
3:00 am - Golf: Women's Round 2 🇺🇸
4:00 am - Rhythmic Gymnastics: Individual All-Around Qualification
4:05 am - Athletics: Women's Heptathlon 100m Hurdles and High Jump, Women's Shot Put Qualis, Women's and Men’s 4 x 100m Relays Round 1
5:00 am - Modern Pentathlon: Men's Fencing Ranking Round
5:43 am - Sailing: Mixed Dinghy, Mixed Multihull, Men’s Kite, and Women’s Kite Medal Races 🥇🥇🥇🥇
6:35 am - Sport Climbing: Men’s Speed Quarters, Semis, and Final 🇺🇸 🥇
7:20 am - Canoe Sprint: Men's Canoe Double 500m, Women's Kayak Four 500m, and Men's Kayak Four 500m Finals 🥇🥇🥇
8:30 am - Modern Pentathlon: Women's Fencing Ranking Round 🇺🇸
9:00 am - Diving: Men's 3m Springboard Final 🇺🇸 🥇
9:00 am - Weightlifting: Women's 59kg 🥇
9:00 am - Rhythmic Gymnastics: Individual All-Around Qualification
10:00 am - Volleyball: Women's Semifinals, USA vs Brazil 🇺🇸 🥇
11:00 am - Soccer: Men’s Bronze Medal Match, Egypt vs Morocco
1:00 pm - Field Hockey: Men's Gold Medal Match, Germany vs Netherlands 🥇
1:35 pm - Athletics: Women's Heptathlon Shot Put and 200m, Women's 1500m Semi-Final, Women's Long Jump Final, Men's Javelin Throw Final, Men's 200m Final, Women's 400m Hurdles Final, and Men's 110m Hurdles Final 🇺🇸 🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇
11:00 am - Beach Volleyball: Women's and Men’s Semi-Finals
12:15 pm - Wrestling: Men's Greco-Roman 67kg, Men's Greco-Roman 87kg, and Women's Freestyle 53kg Medal Matches 🇺🇸 🥇🥇🥇
1:09 pm - Track Cycling: Women's Keirin and Men's Omnium Finals 🇺🇸 🥇🥇
1:30 pm - Weightlifting: Men's 73kg 🥇
1:35 pm - Water Polo: Women's Semifinal, USA vs Australia 🇺🇸
3:00 pm - Basketball: Men's Semifinal, USA vs Serbia 🇺🇸
3:00 pm - Beach Volleyball: Women's and Men’s Semi-Finals
3:19 pm - Taekwondo: Women <57kg and Men <68kg Gold Medal Contests 🥇🥇
4:34 pm - Boxing: Men’s 51kg and Women’s 54kg Finals 🥇🥇
In Other Olympic News…
Defending Olympic champions have a literal target on their chest.
Figure Skating Gold at the Summer Games?!!?
A guy broke an Olympic Record his dad set 20 years ago!
Team USA won its first Weightlifting medal since 1984, 20 years before Hampton Morris was born.
Photo of the Day
